As Hamas announces a new death toll of more than 32,200 in the Gaza Strip, UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel to “remove the last obstacles to aid” for the Gaza Strip. Gaza, threatened with famine.
Information to remember
⇒ 32,226 people have died since the start of the Israeli offensive, according to Hamas.
⇒ From Egypt, Antonio Guterres begs both parties to establish a ceasefire.
⇒ A Hamas leader denounces “deep differences” in negotiations for a truce.
Hamas Health Ministry gives 32,200 deaths
Exactly 32,226 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, according to a new report from the Hamas Ministry of Health given on Sunday March 14. The ministry also reports nearly 75,000 wounded in more than five months of war.
Antonio Guterres’ appeal
The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, called on Sunday in Cairo “Israel to remove the last obstacles to aid” for the Gaza Strip, threatened with famine. He had gone the day before to the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to, he said, draw attention to the “pain” of the Palestinians, prisoners of “an endless nightmare”. “Nothing justifies the horrific attacks by Hamas on October 7. And nothing justifies the collective punishment suffered by the Palestinian people. Now more than ever, it is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” Guterres said, also calling on Hamas to “immediately release all the hostages” kidnapped on October 7.
Over the past 24 hours, incessant Israeli bombings have caused, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, more than 70 deaths in the small Palestinian territory where most of the 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the UN.
In addition to the heavy human toll and the humanitarian catastrophe, the international community is concerned about a possible Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced, are crowded together.
Hamas reports ‘deep differences’
A Hamas official told AFP on Saturday March 23 of “deep differences” with Israel in discussions on a truce in Gaza, in particular on the ceasefire, the full return of displaced people and the management of the ‘humanitarian aid.
“The occupier […] refuses the return of the displaced and wishes to maintain the occupation within the Gaza Strip”, he said, a response deemed “absolutely unacceptable”. In a proposal sent to mediators last week, Hamas was said to be ready for a six-week truce, with the release of hostages kidnapped during its October 7 attack, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But the Israeli government “refuses to accept a complete ceasefire, it refuses a complete withdrawal of its forces from Gaza,” he added.
Another point of disagreement, Israel wants to keep the management of relief and humanitarian aid “under its control”, adds this official, and “requests that Unrwa (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees) and the “The United Nations is not resuming its work, especially in the northern Gaza Strip,” he said.
Negotiations on the exchange of hostages and prisoners
The heads of the American and Israeli intelligence services left Doha after a new round of talks, which “focused on details and a ratio for the exchange of hostages and prisoners”, she added, in specifying that the “technical teams remained in Doha”.
Israel continues operation at al-Chifa hospital
On the sixth day of its operation against the al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza City, the Israeli army said on Saturday that it would continue until “the last terrorist” was captured. After asserting that “high-ranking Hamas terrorists” were hiding there, she reported more than 170 Palestinian fighters killed so far and hundreds of suspects arrested.